"...determination is the key to success in politics, in the broadest sense of the word. You don't need many resources to make your voice heard when you are defending a cause you believe to be just..." Padre André Sibomana

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Survivors of Congo genocide speak out

Testimonies of survivors of Congo’s genocide are beginning
to gain media coverage. France 24 did an interview (in English) with Marie Beatrice Umutesi. She is the author of Surviving the Slaughter: The Ordeal of a
Rwandan Refugee in Zaire. Her book is a must read for anyone interested in
gaining a broader knowledge on the circumstances surrounding these killings.

Umutesi herself survived but this wasn’t until she trekked
over 2,000 miles from eastern Congo to Kinshasa. Through the assistance of a
Dutch colleague, she fled from Kinshasa to Brussels where she lives to this day.
Her reflection was used as a guiding source by the UN investigative team.

As a warning, her account is very bare and graphic due to
her desire to fully account for the horrors that transpired. There is no flowery
way to explain genocide.

The story told is a typical one for those living in this
region. The RPA army called for meetings (kwitaba
inama) and those who showed up for the meeting would face extermination (kwitaba imana). Readers who are familiar
with Rwanda know that the name Inama
(meeting) and Imana (God) have a traumatizing
meaning for most us.

When someone dies in Rwanda, the locals say that the person
has obeyed God’s call (kwitaba imana).
Similarly, when someone shows up for a meeting, the person has obeyed the
leaders call (kwitaba inama). During the
post genocide period, showing up for a meeting meant showing up for death;
thus, kwitaba inama became kwitaba imana.

Anyway, below is the testimony of Matata Ihigihugo:

"They killed all
my people. I have no life left," she said

She objected to being
asked to name her massacred family. "Why do you ask me to call out the
names of those who are dead?" she demanded. "There can be no peace
for me until they are properly buried."

As for the mass graves, she said:

"There can be no
rest for people buried like that.” “Giving a proper burial to my family also
would put my heart at rest."

The interview reveals what I have often emphasized: the fact
that the international community recognizes these killings is very important to
survivors. Second, is the question of justice.

In the same piece we are also informed that the killings
were well known and that the UN participated in a possible cover up of the war crimes.
The first investigations showing that forces under Gen. Paul Kagame committed
these atrocities were completely kept under the rag.

Observers find a link between impunity and the current
violence that has devastated eastern Congo. Had the criminals been pursued 12
years ago, perhaps this action might have deterred Rwanda’s involvement—including
its support for proxy militias such as Laurent nkunda’s CNDP.

Lastly, I end with words from Reed Brody who is the former
UN deputy investigator:

"The question now
is the same question there was then: Is there the political will to identify
the killers and bring them to justice?"

"The fact that
these killings of tens of thousands, if not more, went utterly unpunished, the
fact that there was clearly not the political will to identify the authors of
these massacres and to bring them to justice, has facilitated the cycle of
violence,"

We only hope that the international community will not fail
the victims once more.